future owners of A RL38

[XCMARK]

My wife and I are looking at used Redwoods , I would like to know what owners think about the Goodyear G614's one of the units we are looking at has about 10000 miles on it and the date codes are 1014 ( March of 2014) should I be looking at replaceing these if they still don't show signs of cracking. I will take a very close look in the tread area once we are the owners but at this point I am looking at cost of ownership . Are the 614's enough or should I consider 17.5" tire and wheels upgrades? we are looking at 38RL models. 7000lb axels

Thanks M$M

[Blenhardt]

Welcome to the forum.

I have about 30k miles on mine and don't intend to change them soon. They look good. Also without cracks.

[mhs4771]

The 614s are more than enough for 7K Axles and shoulld be good for another year or two based on that date code. But you won't really know until you get one home, load it up as you would for a long trip and hit the scales, that will give you the REAL answer.

[travelin' texans]

Mine had 60k+/- on them when I upgraded to 17.5" without any issues.
When you're ready to upgrade to 17.5 " Hs contact Ron aka Titan Guy on this forum for good deals. He can also do the disc brake upgrade.

[XCMARK]

We took ownership of a new to us 2015 38RL , It in good shape and we hope to get on the road in the spring for a few one week trips over the summer. Niagara Falls is on my wife's short list but time will tell .

[Ford truck guy]

Originally Posted by XCMARK

We took ownership of a new to us 2015 38RL , It in good shape and we hope to get on the road in the spring for a few one week trips over the summer. Niagara Falls is on my wife's short list but time will tell .

Congrats ! ! We are partial to that model, as we have a “16” 38RL and Love it !

Good Luck with it, and Happy Camping !

Joe

[Shane Wood]

Congrats nice rig

[RWJSIM2003]

Congrats, Looks familiar we have the same year and model

[Dale & Tracey Fietz]

Looks real good.Hope you enjoy it as well as we do ours.

[RomanyLife]

Congratulations! We love that rig!! Have fun, we LOVE ours.

[XCMARK]

I just wanted to check in and say Thank you to all . I have found many of the owners here be very knowledgeable when it comes the Redwood products and camping related topics. I am going to have to wait 5 months to get our first vacation trip , its going to be a long winter....... However we may get a few very cold nights up north in for a overnight snowmobile trip. I have a place in central NH that I hope to do a Saturday night or two over Jan~Feb at some point. Last Year I did a over night in our old Holiday Rambler TT at -18F overnight. Dry camping of course. 72* inside with some help from 2 -1500watt elect heater and furnace.
Anyone do any cold weather camping with there Redwoods? How is it heating these? Mine has the full time package with duel pane windows .

[RomanyLife]

Hi Mark and Melissa;

We live in our RW 365/24/7. We have been in it more than 3 years now. We live in the Pacific Northwest and our winters usually have at least some brutal cold snaps and some snow. We have had ZERO problem with the RW. It has been warm and cozy throughout with temps down in the teens. Mind you, we took the usual precautions that you take with an RV for winter with regard to the water hoses outside and sewer and all of that, but the combo of the furnace and the heatpumps were all we needed. Super warm. We left the light on in the wet bay outside (where the tank valves are) to keep that area from getting too cold when it really got cold, but other than that, nothing special. We are heading into our 4th winter and not too worried!

[RWJSIM2003]

We lived in our RW for two winters here in Oregon with no Issues. Like Romany we took precautions heated water line. We also used two electric heaters and the fireplace for heat mainly because we did not pay for electricity at the location we were parked during the winter. We were very comfortable even when weather was down in the Teens at times. Very Happy with how our RW was in the cold.


One suggestion is to run a Dehumidifier if possible to keep any condensation out of Trailer.

[RW Cal]

Originally Posted by XCMARK

We took ownership of a new to us 2015 38RL , It in good shape and we hope to get on the road in the spring for a few one week trips over the summer. Niagara Falls is on my wife's short list but time will tell .

We also have a 2015 38RL and we love it! Looks like your's has the same paint. We had ours delivered with disc brakes on 7K axels, and we upgraded in 2016 with 8K Morryde IS and Titan guy sent us new 17.5 wheel and tires this year.

[Tom's38GK]

Congratulations on your new to you RW if you are handy you can pretty much correct all the issues these and every RV have. The forum has been a Godsend to me to keep me busy in preventative maintenance to make sure these rigs are all they can be. as far as Winter camping make sure you run the Propane heat account that is what keeps your under carriage above freezing. Welcome to the group........

You know seeing all the pictures of our Redwoods on here I am kind of thinking we are all nothing more than eye candy for the rest of the RVrs out there......

[XCMARK]

I finaly got to run across a scale with the camper. With camping gear and 100 gallons of fresh water and maybe 200 ~250 lbs of tools in the bed of the truck I am 400 lbs over the rated rear axel load rating with my single rear wheel 3500 (7050 lbs limited I am sure by the tire rating ) I am still under the trucks max tow combine rating . So I think we will only travel with 20~30 gallons of freshwater and I am going to swap out to 245/70/19.5 load range H tires rated at 4950 lbs and custom wheels. these tires on all 4 corners even running at reduced air pressure have a big margin of safety and much more stable side wall .

the weights as loaded this day are

front axle of the truck 4870 lbs
rear axle of truck 7420 lbs
trailer total of both axels 12910lbs inc 100 gallons of h2o
25200 lbs total combine

It pulls it fine but the tires on the rear axle are over weight so keep this I'm mind for those of you who are looking at trucks and thinking a 3/4 2500 HD is enough.

my combo is:
2016 GMC crew cab 3500 denali single rear wheel 6' bed 4x4 ,6.6 duramax Allison , demco slide hitch and air bags

2015 Redwood RL-38 with washer drier , king bed super slide , slide toppers , two awnings ,120v frig, dishwasher and a full basement of tools , cleaning supplies and Gen prep . I know I could take a easy 200 lbs out of the hitch weight with taking things out the basement that are not needed every day but that is not how most of us travel.......

[xtasee]

I am glad to hear you did the scales. That is the right way to do it.

You mention custom wheels. You must also take care to insure the wheel rating both for weight and air pressure are what you need. Most custom wheels actually will be rated less than your factory wheels.

It also sounds to me like you may (in addition to taking out some water), be able to move some of your stuff around to put more weight on the trailer axles. 400 lbs is not much. I would not be afraid of running at the max tire rating as long as you don’t exceed it. There is a little safety factor built into the rating. Tire pressure should be set at MAX and some run up to an additional 10% pressure. This does not increase the weight rating however. The rating is also for speed so if you are at max, I would keep it below 70 mph

[Ford truck guy]

Originally Posted by XCMARK

I finaly got to run across a scale with the camper. With camping gear and 100 gallons of fresh water and maybe 200 ~250 lbs of tools in the bed of the truck I am 400 lbs over the rated rear axel load rating with my single rear wheel 3500 (7050 lbs limited I am sure by the tire rating ) I am still under the trucks max tow combine rating . So I think we will only travel with 20~30 gallons of freshwater and I am going to swap out to 245/70/19.5 load range H tires rated at 4950 lbs and custom wheels. these tires on all 4 corners even running at reduced air pressure have a big margin of safety and much more stable side wall .

the weights as loaded this day are

front axle of the truck 4870 lbs
rear axle of truck 7420 lbs
trailer total of both axels 12910lbs inc 100 gallons of h2o
25200 lbs total combine

It pulls it fine but the tires on the rear axle are over weight so keep this I'm mind for those of you who are looking at trucks and thinking a 3/4 2500 HD is enough.

my combo is:
2016 GMC crew cab 3500 denali single rear wheel 6' bed 4x4 ,6.6 duramax Allison , demco slide hitch and air bags

2015 Redwood RL-38 with washer drier , king bed super slide , slide toppers , two awnings ,120v frig, dishwasher and a full basement of tools , cleaning supplies and Gen prep . I know I could take a easy 200 lbs out of the hitch weight with taking things out the basement that are not needed every day but that is not how most of us travel.......

Those numbers are very close to the ones tht I got from the CAT scales.. My trailer axles were at 12,680# loaded for a full trip without water.. We never carry water, so that does not upset me.My rear axle rating is 7100 and my tires are 3750# ea. Or 7500#.. for now, We are sticking with our SRW, but the next truck will be a DRW .. That is after we start camping more than weekends only

[atom ant]

As much as I hated that step to a DRW, it towed smooth and sturdy and I never worried again about heading out with full tanks or bunches of gear. I got up to 17,200 lbs on the Redwood at one weighing.

In the end, it was the DRW that kind of soured us on the 5er concept, so if you like your SRW I would try to make it work until you just can't.

[XCMARK]

Originally Posted by atom ant

As much as I hated that step to a DRW, it towed smooth and sturdy and I never worried again about heading out with full tanks or bunches of gear. I got up to 17,200 lbs on the Redwood at one weighing.

In the end, it was the DRW that kind of soured us on the 5er concept, so if you like your SRW I would try to make it work until you just can't.

Exactly my thoughts ,

my new wheels when American force cuts them are rated for 6600 lbs and they are the only American aluminum wheel on the market.
American force Beast SS are made in 3 sizes and fit most trucks on the market past and present. currently on back order and made to order. these compare to the quality of a high end Alcoa polished to a mirror.

Vision heavy hauler type 81 are made in china and are 6.5" wide , these work for 225 /19.5 tires but not suggested for 245 tires because they are not 7.5" wide wheels.

Rickson wheels are made in the USA but they are powder coated steel and would look more like work truck wheel rather then a nice Denali truck